Homestead, Florida

Friday, October 31, 2014

We left the Keys yesterday and made our way to Homestead.  We enjoyed our visit to the Keys.  The weather while at Bahia Honda was fantastic; sunshine mid to upper 80s every day.  While the Keys are nice and good for a visit, they’re not great for a long stay unless you want to fish, swim, snorkel, or kayak.   I know, you’re thinking what’s wrong with that?  Right?

Unless you have a good sized boat you will be fishing from bridges and shore.  And, its all saltwater; in fact all the fresh water for the Keys is pumped from Miami.  Electric and all other utilities come from the mainland.  Jellyfish are a constant pest for swimming and snorkeling.  Their sting is like that of a bee, Dan got stung 4 times on the first snorkel trip and Lynn twice.  Although cooler, we have both decided freshwater is better.

Thursday we attended a Park Ranger lecture on the overseas RR and highway.  The ranger told us the first highway was so narrow back in the 60s and 70s when RVs started traveling, they regularly got their mirrors torn off when passing other RVs and trucks.  Keys residents would collect the mirrors, fix them up, and resell them back to those who lost them!

Our park here is Boardwalk RV Resort, another urban mobile home park with many permanent residents.  It has many amenities, including clubhouse and pool. A neighbor recommended locking up bikes or they will get stolen.  There is a pretty heavy iron gate with required entry code to get in.  Hmmm….

Our objective today was a revisit to the southern end of the Everglades, between  Florida City and Flamingo.  We did not see or learn a lot of new things, but the story of Flamingo is interesting.  If you look at your Florida map, you will see that Flamingo is about as far south as you can go on the mainland.  Back in the early 1900s it was inhabited by about  200 very tough people; living in shacks, making a living selling fish, alligators, birds (mostly flamingos) for meat and feathers for the lady’s big hats.  Living conditions were terrible; think mud, mosquitos, subtropical, no electricity.  Water came from the swamp.

However, their business was so big they decimated the flamingo and alligator population and nearly wiped out several fish species in the area.  When the Government declared the Everglades a National Park, the people of Flamingo wanted nothing to do with it.  When NPS declared Eminent Domain and forced them to leave, it was a battle.  Most people burned their house and belongings when they left.  Today, the town of Flamingo no longer exists, only the NPS visitor center marks where Flaming once was.

The visitor center is in rough shape also.  In 2005 both Hurricane Katrina and Wilma did substantial damage,  They are still recovering.

Its Halloween, here is Lynn’s costume, trick or treat!

Pretty real looking isn’t it?

Along the 38 mile drive there were pull offs, one with Royal Palms, the real big majestic Palms.

Although most was again saw grass prairies, there were hammocks of slash pine.

 

One of the few remaining stands of Mahogany.

Mahogany trees are native to south Florida, almost all outside the Park have been harvested.  They grow very slowly.  You hardly ever see mahogany for sale and not much furniture is made with it anymore.  This is a seed pod that when ripe will split and drop winged seeds.

Our next stop has been in Florida for eons.  It is the Coral Castle.  It ranks high on the list of bizarre things to visit.  It is a small plot of land along US1, a bit north of Homestead.  It was once owned by an eccentric guy named Edward Leedskalnin from Latvia.  He lived completely by himself in a castle he built between 1918 and 1936 from coral limestone from his property.  It included a 10 foot wall for privacy around his castle and yard.

He made a living by charging 25 cents to the curious who wanted to come in and look around.  The curiosity was how he moved this stuff around.  Ed was only 5’ and weighed 100 pounds, so it was amazing he could move up to 40,000 pound hunks of this stuff by himself using only hand tools.

Ed’s Castle - above.  Below - his rendition of the solar system.

The guy was self taught and brilliant.  He constantly read books about physics.  He was very interested in Nikola Testla’s work. Here is a table in the shape of Florida with chairs.

A sundial, note it marks slightly after 3PM.  It was 4:06PM with DST.

A slow cooker made from a Model T differential housing.  It was hung by chain over a pit he would build a fire in.

His bed

Anyway, you get the idea.  He died at the age of 64 from a stroke and kidney failure in 1951.